Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver‘s new crime drama, Paper Tiger, has debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with 83% score. The rating lands well below what their previous film, Marriage Story, achieved in 2019.
What critics are saying about Paper Tiger in reviews
Paper Tiger premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, where it got a 10-minute standing ovation. Reviews have been largely positive, though not unanimous.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire called out Driver’s performance as “heartbreakingly portrayed by Adam Driver in a career-best performance that stretches across flash, menace, and pure sincerity like a foot stepping down on a bed of nails without drawing blood.” Additionally, several critics commended James Gray’s direction. Stephanie Zacharek of TIME Magazine wrote, “Paper Tiger is old school in the best way, the kind of movie so many American directors have forgotten how to make, if they ever learned in the first place.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described it as “a meaty drama with big scenes and big but carefully considered performances: a really substantial piece of work from Gray.”David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter added, “Gray and his superb cast are in blazing form and full command here in a bruising movie that reveals the heavy price of pursuing the American Dream too recklessly.”
However, not every review was glowing. Owen Gleiberman from Variety expressed reservations, writing, “You can feel James Gray wanting to will something like a Lumet version of Greek tragedy… But even the scene-to-scene skill of Gray’s direction can’t stop the movie from turning into a mixture of the grandiose and the implausible.”
The story follows two brothers whose pursuit of the American Dream entangles them with a Russian mafia scheme. Driver plays Gary Pearl, a former police officer. Johansson plays Hester Pearl, wife to Miles Teller‘s character Irwin.
Paper Tiger’s Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t enough to beat Marriage Story
At 83%, Paper Tiger sits comfortably in fresh territory on the Tomatometer. Yet it trails Marriage Story by 12 points. Noah Baumbach’s 2019 divorce drama, which also paired Johansson and Driver, holds a 95% critic score and an 85% Popcornmeter rating from audiences.
The Popcornmeter score for Paper Tiger remains unavailable until NEON announces an official theatrical release date.
